Terry Locke
Terry James Locke (born 1946) is a New Zealand poet, anthologist, and academic. Life Youth and education Locke was born in Auckland and grew up in the suburb of Sandringam, the youngest of 3 children. He attended St. Peter's College, Auckland, where he was in the same class as Sam Hunt. Locke has commented on Sam Hunt (and James K Baxter with whom Locke had later personal dealings) in [http://www.hyperpoetics.ac.nz/Genres/LockeReviews/BaxterHunt.htm his review of James K. Baxter: Poems selected and introduced by Sam Hunt, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2008.] (retrieved 20 February 2012) This review also contains the text of Reply to Baxter from Locke's first book of poems, After a Life in the Provinces. and was taught "for two important senior years" by K.O. Arvidson.[http://aonzpsa.blogspot.co.nz/2007/11/locke-terry.html "Terry Locke", Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive, Tuesday, November 20, 2007.] (retrieved 20 February 2012). He was dux of the college in 1964 and in 1965 was awarded a Junior National University Scholarship.St Peter's Magazine 1965, 12. In 1965 Locke attended Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch and then commenced a degree in English and mathematics at Auckland University, completing a Ph.D. in English in 1976. His doctoral thesis was on the subject,The Antagonistic City: A design for urban imagery in seven American poets.Ph.D thesis, University of Auckland, 1976. During that time he was also a social activist and was involved in the foundation of Youthline with Father Felix Donnelly. He was the Director of YouthlineTerry Locke, After a Life in the Provinces, Lindon Publishing, Auckland West, 1983. and was involved in other social and Catholic initiatives.Terry Locke, The Youthline Story, Youthlink Family Trust, Auckland, 1981. He later wrote a history of Youthline. Academic career While completing his Ph.D. and afterwards, Locke lectured from time to time in the English department at Auckland University over a period of 9 years years (1970-1976 and 1980-1983). He was editor of Rapport for 4 years. In 1971-1972 he was a visiting Research Fellow at Yale University while working on his Ph.D thesis. He also taught at secondary school level for 12 years. Since the beginning of 1997, he has worked in the arts and language education department of the School of Education at Waikato University, where he trains secondary English teachers and pursues academic interests in such areas as "professionalism, ‘new technologies’, the construction of English and educational reform". Locke is a Professor in English/Language Education."Terry Locke", Waikato University website (Retrieved 8 January 2014). He is also a notable poetry reviewer.[http://www.hyperpoetics.ac.nz/Genres/LockeReviews/Index.html "Terry Locke: New Zealand Poetry Reviews", Hyperpoetics, University of Waikato], (retrieved 20 February 2012) Poetry career As a student at Auckland University Locke associated with other new poets such as Ian Wedde, Bob Orr, Murray Edmond and Russell Haley. His early poems were published in Landfall, Morepork and Tango and some of those were republished in his debut collection of poems, After a Life in the Provinces, published in 1983. A 2nd book of poems, Home Territory, was published by ''Lindon in 1984. Locke's 3rd book of poems ''Maketu (concerning Phillip Tapsell) was published in 2003. Locke has also edited or co-edited 3 anthologies of New Zealand poetry[http://headworx.eyesis.co.nz/author/locket.php Headworx website] (retrieved 20 February 2012) Writing Locke has stated that his poetic influences include William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov and William Stafford. Emily Dickinson is his favourite poet but he has stated that she has not influenced his poetry. ''After a Life in the Provinces'' The poems in Locke's debut book of poems, After a Life in the Provinces, are dominated by personal and family concerns (for example, in "Child of Mine," "Poem for Barry at the Age of Two," and "Surrogate Lover"). These may be compared with the more mature eponymous poem "After a Life in the Provinces" where Locke interweaves his past, his religious concerns, his relationship with his wife and his domestic setting with reflections on poetry: "Unless presently engaged / poetry must endless grope / towards a past / immediately felt. / One perception must lead to another. / In that must / is dust transfigured." That poem quotes Walt Whitman from "Song of Myself": "Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, / counsel'd with doctors and calculated close, / I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones." Locke replies: "It's that easy, eh?" Locke's religious concerns are given more pointed treatment in "Church Universal." Another reflection in a domestic setting is in the poem "Morning: Grapefruit," Many of the poems have specific New Zealand settings familiar to the poet such as "Near the Waiohini River Bridge It Happens" and "Mangaweka." The poem "Demonstration" concerns the Saturday, 5 September 1981 Auckland riot during the Sprinboks tour which occurred in the area around Eden Park, Auckland. The poem "Reply to Baxter" is an attack on some of the social views of James K. Baxter expressed in his poem "Pig Island Letters (2)." ''Home Territory'' His home in the old villa in Kingsland, provides the setting for Locke's 2nd book of poems. Home Territory contains 2 named poems, "The Motel" (4 parts) and the much longer "Home Territory" (45 parts). Both poems are largely dominated by family concerns, particularly Locke's relationship with his wife, her pregnancy and the eventual birth of their daughter.Terry Locke, Home Territory, Lindon Publishing, Auckland West, 1984. ''Maketu'' Locke's 3rd book of poems, Maketu, is an extended sequence concerning Phillip (or Philip) Tapsell, a figure from early 19th-century New Zealand history "at once romantic, tantalizingly inaccessible and significant"Terry Locke, Maketu, HeadworX, Wellington, 2003, pp. 9-11. The poems are a record of the process of finding out about Tapsell (speaking with descendants and others, reading documents and their "academic interpretations" and writing letters) and a reconstruction of the life of Tapsell and Hineiturama, Chieftainess of Te Arawa, who became his wife in 1833. The poems are in a variety of styles. Unifying them all is the image of the diving board as metaphor for the invitation to historical engagement. The poems refer particularly to the Boyd massacre of 1809. Tapsell was involved in the retribution against the Māori iwi concerned, Nga Puhi, giving rise to the main poems The Ballad of the good ship Boyd," "The Retribution," and "The Shadow," a description of, and reflection on, Tapsell’s 1st marriage, to Maria Ringa, a Nga Puhi woman (Thomas Kendall married them - but she left Tapsell soon after) and his 2nd marriage, to another Nga Puhi woman, solemnised by Samuel Marsden, which also ended quickly, with her death. The later experience of Tapsell and Hineiturama (who were married by Bishop Pompallier) is referred to in the poems "The Revenger’s tragedy" and "The artefact." The sequence is referenced to the moment and place (Maketu) where Locke originally heard of Tapsell: "The day was fine. The Kaituna River eddied quietly seawards. The old diving board was still. Near the memorial was an old cannon, and attached to the cannon’s base was a plaque bearing the name, Philip Tapsell" (hence the poems carrying the unifying themes The cannon and, especially, The diving board). The poems are rich with references as diverse as William Shakespeare, St Januarius, Copernicus and Pocahontas. Publications Poetry * After a Life in the Provinces: Poems, 1975-1982, Auckland: Lindon, 1983. * Home Territory. Auckland: Lindon, 1984. * Maketu: A sequence. Wellington: HeadworX, 2003. Non-fiction *''Every Student's English Manual''. Auckland: DS, 1992. *''English Manual: A guide to language and writing''. South Melbourne, Vic: Macmillan, 1996. *''Grammar for Starters''. Auckland: Longman, 2001. *''Critical Discourse Analysis''. London & New York: Continuum, 2004. *''Beyond the Grammar Wars: A resource for teachers and students on developing language knowledge in the English/literacy classroom''. London & New York: Routledge, 2010. Edited * White Feathers: An anthology of New Zealand and Pacific Island poetry on the theme of peace (edited with Peter Low & John Winslade). Christchurch, NZ: Hazard Press, 1991. *''Stranger than Fiction: New Zealand non-fiction for senior students''. Auckland: Longman Paul, 1995. * Doors: A contemporary New Zealand poetry selection. Hamilton, NZ: Leaders Press, 2000. * Jewels in the Water: Contemporary New Zealand poetry for younger readers. Hamilton, NZ: Leaders Press, 2000. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Terry Locke, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 13, 2014. See also *List of New Zealand poets References External links ;Prose *Terry Locke: New Zealand poetry reviews ;Books *Terry Locke at Amazon.com ;About *Professor Terry Locke at the University of Waikato *Terry Locke at the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:New Zealand literary critics Category:New Zealand poets Category:People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland Category:Holy Name Seminary alumni Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:People from Auckland Category:University of Waikato faculty Category:New Zealand community activists Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets